'Pit Bull President' positions poisoned pen

As Bush’s house of cards tumbles all around him, his minions in the White House suggest that he will veto the just-passed hate crimes bill. Bush, frustrated and infuriated that a Democratic Congress now calls him to account for spinning the world into a big ole mess in the Middle East, twirls his veto pen over a bill seeking to bring a measure of justice to victims of hate crimes.

The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 (LLEHCPA), approved by the House of Representatives with a vote of 237–180, would put more federal enforcement powers behind investigations and prosecutions of hate crimes based on the victim’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability, adding these categories to current federal hate crimes law that already covers crimes motivated by race, religion and national origin. It also removes the existing limitation on federal involvement that a victim of a bias-motivated crime must have been attacked because the victim was engaged in a specific federally protected activity such as serving on a jury or attending public school. The Department of Justice will now have the authority to provide assistance to local law enforcement agencies that are unable or unwilling to address all forms of hate violence.

So what’s the problem with the bill? After relentless, dangerous and aggressive attacks on the bill by right-wing demagogues, our president of diminutive intellect but great political prowess (a.k.a. Karl Rove) seizes an opportunity to shore up his support among Focus on the Family free speech freaks.

Free speech? Yes, the very same dunderheads that support Bush’s every effort to erode the Bill of Rights have now been fed the red meat Gospel according to Dobson. Despite the bill’s explicit protection of free speech, Dobson told his radio audience that the bill’s real purpose is “to muzzle people of faith who dare to express their moral and biblical concerns about homosexuality.”

Rove has made sure that Bush, too, got the message: only a few more months left to pander to the bloodthirsty right wing, no matter how utterly unconscionable Dobson becomes in his foaming-at-the-mouth attacks on LGBT people. Hurry, George, your days are numbered! Line up those right-wing votes for McCain or Romney or even Rudy! Do the right-wing thing and kill this bill or you might abandon your Republican candidate to a general election without the rabid dog voters on his team. After all, they elected you, George, and they aren’t very happy with any Republican candidate to date. Yet. But you can make the difference, George. Sic ’em!

Another sickening demonstration of the Pit Bull President’s enthusiasm for throwing us to the dogs of homohate.

But here’s a thought: if Bush obediently vetoes the federal hate crimes bill, let’s not whimper and whine and go back to our corners. Let every one of us who can — every gay man, every transgender person, every lesbian, every bisexual person, every caring straight ally — gather in Lafayette Park across from Bush’s den of depravity. Let every one of us carry a placard with the name of a murdered LGBT person . . . don’t worry, there will be plenty of placards to go around. Let all of us howl our rage at the naked political manipulations of a dying administration and then, let us enter Pennsylvania Avenue for a massive die-in of protest against the outrage of the veto.

Our blood has been spilled too many times to let a veto of the hate crimes bill occur without a massive display of our discontent, dissent, disaffection and disgust.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are disproportionately affected by hate violence. According to the FBI, 14 percent of hate crime victims in 2005 were victims of crimes motivated by hatred of lesbian, gay or bisexual people. Moreover, reports produced by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (1984–1993) and the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (1994–present) have documented more than 35,000 anti-LGBT crimes over the last 22 years. It is important to note that these statistics are based on reports from only a handful of local LGBT crime victim assistance agencies.

The version of the hate crimes bill passed today includes crimes based on a victim’s actual or perceived gender identity. The clear inclusion of transgender people in hate crimes laws is especially important because violence against transgender people is widespread, largely underreported, and disproportionately greater than the number of transgender people in society. In 2005, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs reported that 11 percent of the 2,306 victims of reported hate crimes identified as transgender.

The Task Force has led the movementwide effort to secure an effective and full governmental response to hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, beginning with the launch of its groundbreaking anti-violence project in 1982. Task Force organizing, coalition building and lobbying resulted in the 1990 passage of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act, sponsored by U.S. Rep. John Conyers.

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